


Legacy of Skywalker

by OctoberFox



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternative episode 9, Angst, Atonement - Freeform, Awkwardness, Canon Divergence - The Rise of Skywalker, Dark Rey (Star Wars), Enemies to Lovers, Episode 9, Episode IX, F/M, Fix-It, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Kylo Ren Redemption, No Rey Palpatine, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rey Nobody, Rise of Skywalker Never Happened, Sith Holocron, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Stupid Sound Effects
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:42:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22202773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctoberFox/pseuds/OctoberFox
Summary: A complete re-imagining of Star Wars Episode 9 because frankly there was (almost) nothing worth saving in that movie.---Title Crawl...Star Wars: Episode 9Legacy of SkywalkerThe Rebellion is reborn! Brave Resistance fighters challenge the rule of the First Order, denying Supreme Leader KYLO REN domination of the Galaxy.But in a grievous loss for the Rebellion, LEIA ORGANA has fallen, becoming one with the Force. General POE DAMERON tries to hold together a fragile alliance of rebels without her leadership.Following information uncovered in Snoke’s archives, Ren searches for the legendary Sith holocron of Darth Vader. He believes this trove of dark side lore will unlock the power he needs to defeat his nemesis REY...---Or:Kylo Ren finishes what his grandfather started, but still hears the call of the light.--Update: So, some of the broad elements of this fic turned out to be quite similar to the supposedly "leaked Trevorrow script". In a bid to defend my ego, I wish to clarify that I plotted this out before the leak and any similarities are coincidental/us responding in the same way to established themes. :P
Relationships: Finn & Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 19
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

I.

ORBIT OF MUSTAFAR, THE HELL-WORLD OF VADER

The super star destroyer cast an aphotic shadow against the burning blood of Mustafar. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren gazed down at the roiling world, gushing fire into low atmosphere, raging against the cold darkness that engulfed it. Even here in orbit, he could feel the darkness that stalked it.

_ “Ben.” _

Kylo looked up, eyes wide, at the sound of his mother’s voice. 

_ “There’s always hope, Ben.” _

He spun on his heels. The chamber was empty: cold steel and shadows. He was alone.

“Ren?”

Grand Marshall Hux hovered in the doorway, his perpetual sneer mixing with a smirk.

_ “Supreme Leader,” _ Kylo reminded him. Hux blinked, licking his thin lips in sudden fear. 

All fear Kylo Ren, enemy and lackey alike. 

“Yes. Yes. Supreme Leader. I bring excellent news. We have just received a report from our spies. It seems that General Organa...”

“Is dead.” It was true. He could feel it. Something that had always been there in the galaxy, that was now vanished. He had never noticed it before, but now its absence gaped like wound. His mother was gone.

Hux frowned in shock. “Yes. How did you know?”

“Do not question me.” Kylo turned back to the window. Mustafar writhed in flame. He blinked, running his thumb beneath his eyes. “I know.”

“Of course,  _ Supreme Leader. _ We exist only to serve.” Even Hux’s fear could not keep the contempt from his voice. “But this is excellent news. Organa was a thorn in our side, ever since her  _ miraculous escape  _ on Krait. Without her leadership, the Resistance is lost for sure. We must act fast. Give the order, and our armadas shall...”

“No,” Kylo snarled. Hux jumped.

“Supreme Leader, this is our chance too…”

“The girl still lives.”

“The scavenger?”

“Yes. The First Order has one goal. Bring me the girl.”

“Supreme Leader, your obsession with that desert rat has cost us dearly. Rebellion burns across the galaxy, and you are chasing after ghosts. And now you insist upon... _ yeeeurghhk… _ ”

Kylo clenched his fingers, twisting the Force around Hux’s windpipe. The Grand Marshall clawed at his neck, flopping like a fish as Kylo lifted him from the ground. Kylo’s face was impassive as Hux choked and retched.

“I told you,” Kylo said. “Do  _ not _ question me.”

He hurled his Grand Marshall to the cold floor of the star destroyer. The red-headed warlord looked up, grimacing and sucking in air. His face was a mask of hate. 

All hated Kylo Ren, enemy and lackey alike.

“Ready my ship,” Kylo ordered. “I’m going to claim what I came here for.”

“Of course Supreme Leader,” Hux said, shaking as he rose to his feet. “I will summon the Knights of Ren, and prepare a ground force to accompany you.”

“No,” Kylo said. He turned, stalking from the room. “I’ll do it alone.”

II.

HAYS MAJOR, OTOMOK SYSTEM, FIRST ORDER MINING COLONY

Engines howled, drills screamed, and oil burst from the earth like bile. The air was stifling, filled with the stench of bodies, burning furnaces, and the suffering of the mine.

The electro-whip rattled over the children’s heads, blazing in the dark. They clung to one another as the overseer forced them onwards, bodies skinny and faces smeared with filth. A small twi’lek girl tripped into the dust and ash, where she was almost trampled by the heavy boots of the brutal overseer. A girl with bushy black hair grabbed her hand, dragging her along.

“Where are they taking us?” the twi’lek whispered.

“I don’t know,” the bushy-haired girl replied.

“Shut up, brats,” the overseer roared. He cracked his whip again, flashing in the deep dark of the mine.

The children did not know their own names. All they knew was the mine, their toil, working machines that threatened to devour them to drag ores from the ground. But at night, when they slept in a pile like nerf pups, they would whisper stories to each other. Stories of the war between the Rebels and the Empire, the Resistance and the First Order, of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi, still fighting for freedom in the galaxy.

The slave children emerged from the close, boiling mine tunnel into one of the great caverns. They blinked in the harsh lamplight, squinting at the strange shapes they saw. Adult mine workers stood over their machines, hidden beneath cowls and rags.

In the centre of the cavern there were Stormtroopers clad in glistening white armour, and a sour-faced First Order officer.

“Is this the best you have, Overseer?” the First Order officer said, disgust filling her voice. 

“You’ve taken my best already,” the Overseer bellowed back. “What do you even need so many for?”

“Grand Marshall Hux has ordered recruitment to be accelerated. The First Order needs soldiers for its invasion of the core worlds. Even if that means working with dregs and slaves. You still have these dogs to work your machines,” the officer said, gesturing to the other hooded workers. She sighed, turning to the cowering children.

“Congratulations, scum. You have just been promoted. You will now have the chance to give your lives to bring order to the galaxy, as Stormtroopers of 104th Legion. Your bodies will be trained, your minds will be reprogrammed for utter obedience. Rejoice: your deaths will now have meaning in the service of the Supreme Leader.”

The Stormtroopers advanced, grabbing the screaming children and dragging them away. The human and twi’lek girl clung to one another as gauntleted hands closed on their wrists.

“Not that one,” the officer shouted, pointing at the twi’lek. “I’ve told you before. The reprogramming process only works on human psychology. She’s no good to me.”

“She’s no good to me either,” the overseer snarled. “A single set of skinny arms is worse than useless. Just another mouth to feed.”

“Fine. Trooper, delete the spare.”

The blank-faced Stormtrooper raised their blaster, pointing it right at the Twi’lek child. The children screwed up their eyes, waiting for the shot.

_ Pzshuum pzshuum pzshuum. _

The twi’lek opened her eyes. The Stormtrooper was still standing, except now they had three smouldering blaster holes in their helmet and chest. Slowly, they crumpled to the ground.

“WHAT?” the officer screamed.

“Up there!” howled the overseer, gesturing with a clawed finger at a cowled worker. The smoking muzzle of a blaster pointed from beneath their rags.

The worker cast back their hood, revealing the face of Resistance fighter Finn.

“Now!” Finn shouted, opening fire on the Stormtroopers below. The air was filled with the sounds of blaster shots as Resistance warriors cast aside their ragged disguises and engaged the First Order.

The Stormtroopers fell back, returning sizzling blaster fire as they sought cover. The overseer bellowed in rage as the child slaves scattered. The Resistance pressed their attack.

Rose Tico ducked behind an oil-smeared mining machine as blaster shots sparked overhead. She looked around as Finn scrambled down next to her.

“There’s more of them than we expected,” he yelled, ducking above cover to blast wildly at the Stormtroopers.

“We need to change the plan,” Rose shot back. “You help those kids! We can’t just leave them. I’ll get the core driller.’”

“You sure this will work?”

“I spent years in a mine like this. It’s all linked together. Overload the core driller, and you’ll knock out all the equipment in this place. No more machines, no more mine, no more metals for the First Order.”

“Alright,” Finn said, gesturing to his squad of fighters. “On the count of three!”

_ Krakka-booom. _

The thermal detonator exploded overhead, tossing Finn and Rose across the dirt. Finn staggered up, his head ringing, sparks singeing in his flight jacket.

“Rose!” he screamed at the crumpled pile on the floor. He scuttled over to her, dodging blaster shots, returning fire at the Stormtroopers. Now that the Resistance had lost the element of surprise, the First Order’s foot soldiers were quickly gaining the upper hand.

Finn ducked down by Rose’s prone body. Carefully, he turned her over. She was breathing, she was alive. She screwed her face up in pain, clutching at a wound to her leg.

“Are you okay?” Finn asked. “I’ll call the retreat. We can’t do this.”

“No,” Rose murmured, “No, I’m fine. I’m fine. Get the kids. I can make it to the core driller.” Shakily, Rose rose to her feet. She held onto Finn for a moment, before letting go and standing on her own.

“Go!” she shouted. Finn took another glance at her determined face, and then he went.

Finn skittered from cover to cover, shouting orders to the Resistance fighters, trying to get to where the slave children had congregated, cowering. He blasted his way through a pair of Stormtroopers, gesturing at the frightened kids.

“Come on,” he said, “Quickly, quickly. We can get you out of here.”

Eyes wide, the children followed behind him. They helped each other along, staying low as Finn lead them through the battlefield. Just once, he allowed himself a glance to see how Rose was doing. She had made it to the large, central mining machine that he could only assume was the core-driller and appeared to be in the middle of pulling out its insides.

“Here,” he called to one of the Resistance fighters as they reached the exit tunnel that lead out of the mine, “Take them to the Falcon.”

“We need to retreat, Commander.”

“Pull back. I’m going for Rose.”

Finn dashed back into the melee, dodging and weaving to where Rose was busy with the machine.

“You got it?” he said as he threw himself down next to her. She nodded. “I got it. Bypassed the Corporate Alliance security and got right into the electrics. We’ve got about thirty minutes before the venting systems backcharge, blowing almost every digger in this place to bits.”

“That’s my girl,” Finn said with a smile. Rose smiled back wearily.

“What about the kids?” she asked.

“They’re all safe. The all be on the Falcon by now.” As he said it, his eyes fell on a pair of small bodies, clutching each other: a twi’lek and human girl. “Well, almost all,” he said.

“We need to…” Rose began, before her voice trailed away. 

“Freeze, rebel scum.”

A circle of Stormtroopers had surrounded them, blasters pointing. Finn hugged Rose tight, staring defiantly at the First Order’s soldiers. The Officer shouldered her way between them, a cold smirk plastered across her face.

“You. I know you. You’re the traitor from Batch Eight. The one who broke conditioning.” She raised her pistol, pointing right at Finn’s skull. “I’m looking forward to seeing quite what your brains look like.”

She pulled the trigger.

The pistol jerked in her hand, sending the shot ricocheting wide. The Officer’s sneer turned to a mask of shock as the gun was tugged again by an invisible force, ripped right from of her fingers and sailing through the air. Finn looked up with a smile, peering to see his saviour.

It was not who he expected.

The bushy-haired human girl stood in front of her twi’lek friend, her little hand outstretched and a look of determination of her face as she levitated the blaster pistol.

“What the hell…” the officer spat, staring at the child. The child glared back, a look of rage upon her face.

“The Force!” whispered Rose.

“Shoot her!” the officer ordered. The Stormtroopers raised their blasters. The child screamed, thrusting out her empty hands, but all the guns did was briefly tremble.

The first shots rang out as a shadow flew across the cavern.

_ Krraaaak-zooooom. _

The blaster bolts skidded through the air, knocked aside by the blows of a lightsaber. The blade of light fizzed and sputtered, roaring like a raging fire. It flamed a deep, deep amber, almost to a diseased red.

Rey twirled the burning sabre, moving into a double-handed stance. The stormtroopers took a step back. Finn saw their fear made Rey smile. Then she attacked.

Once again, the air was full of blaster belts and the smell of scorched armour. Rey flung stormtroopers through the air, deflecting their shots back at them. The officer fled, yelling orders into her communicator as the troopers began to fall back in dissarray. When she had beaten them back, Rey spun her lightsaber and stopped to check on her friends.

“We weren’t expecting you,” Finn said, helping Rose to her feet.

“I got tired of hanging around the base waiting for Poe to decide where he needed me. Turns out I was needed here.” She bent to look at Rose’s wounded leg.

“Can you walk, Rose?” she said.

“Yes,” Rose said, putting weight on her leg. She immediately collapsed back. “No. No, not really.”

“Those troopers will be back with reinforcements any second,” Finn said, “and a whole bunch of things are going to start blowing up a few seconds after that.”

“Hold still, Rose,” Rey said, “I’m going to try something.”

She knelt by Rose’s injury, breathing deeply to calm herself. Just as the Jedi texts had taught, she reached inside herself, and they tried to reach out through the Force. Her hands hovered over Rose’s wound. She felt a warmth begin to run through her, the sense of life of her friend, the pain she was diminishing.

“Amazing,” Rose breathed, “I can barely feel it.”

The flesh began to knit back together. Rey pushed further, reaching deeper inside herself, seeking the warmth and love at the core of her being that was her connection to the Force.

_ Your parents were filthy junk dealers who sold you off like garbage. _

Ren’s face flashed into her mind. The smouldering wreckage of Snoke’s throne room. His outstretched hand.

_ You’re nobody. But not to me. _

Rey jerked back. The wound still remained.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I can’t do it. I can’t do it.”

“It’s okay,” Rose said. “It feels much better. I think I can walk with help.” She beckoned at the two remaining children. “Come on. We can get you to safety.”

The twi’lek and the bushy-haired girl scuttled over. Rose took them by the hand. Rey watched. The human girl looked at her with dark, angry eyes.

“You’re like me,” she said. Rey nodded.

“I am.”

“Are you Luke Skywalker?” the girl said.

“No,” Rey replied, with a half smile. “I’m just Rey.”

“But you are a Jedi?”

“I’m trying to be.”

The girl looked at the fallen bodies of the First Order.

“I hate them,” she said with a snarl.

There was a clattering of boots as a host of new stormtroopers came charging up from below, lead by a bellowing Overseer wielding his power whip.

Rey ignited her lightsaber. It roared like an angry beast. Then she drew her second. This one burned the same dusky gold, almost red, as the broken kyber crystal split between the two sabre’s screamed out its energy.

Rey raised her weapons. Her face was lit crimson in the unstable, crackling light.

“I hate them too,” she said. Then she attacked.

III. MUSTAFAR

The cultists had attacked him soon after he had landed. They came at him through the withered trees, garbed in cloaks and hoods, goggles and domed helmets, chittering in an alien language he did not understand. He felt the dark side in them, felt their hate.

He killed them.

His lightsabre cleaved through leather and flesh, hacking and sending limbs sizzling onto the dark stone of Mustafar. Axes and blaster shots were no match for the Supreme Leader of the First Order, so close to the apex of his power.

_ She spun her lightsabres, blocking shots as more and more Stormtroopers seemed to pile in to the cavern. They could send as many as they wanted; she would defeat them all. Two masked warriors charged at her, spinning their electrified batons. She blocked their swings simultaneously with both her sabres. Stormtroopers were no match for Rey, so close to the apex of her power. _

He could feel her, hundreds of parsecs away. Distance meant nothing to the Force.

A cultist swung at him with a trembling vibroblade. He parried with a snarl, the metal weapon melting apart as it struck the lightsabre. The cultist backed away, hands up in fear, cackling something. Kyo behead it with a single cut.

More came through the barren trees. He panted hot and hard, like a beast. His face was a mask of hate. He was surrounded, outnumbered. It meant nothing. He could sense their fear.

_ She pushed a Stormtrooper back with the Force, colliding with his squadmates. She kicked another in the helmet, bringing her weapons around to cleave through the plastoid armour. Her fury was rising. She looked for her friends, seeing them making the tunnel that leads to safety. She was glad. She had been a distraction for them, now there was nothing to distract her. _

_ She felt him too. Felt the heat of his breath. She could hear the rushing of his blood and the growl of his lightsaber. _

_ More stormtroopers. She was surrounded, outnumbered. It meant nothing. She was strong in the Force. _

She was back to back with him, encircled by her own foes. He could feel her, just like in Snoke’s throne room. He could feel the warmth of her body, the brush of her robes as she fought, the tickle of her hair against his face as she battled.

_ She could feel the creak of his leather clothes, the boiling wind he was fighting in. She could smell the crackle of his lightsaber and the scorched wounds of his foes. When she took a step back to dodge the hissing whip-strike of the mine’s overseer, she felt him firm and solid and real against her body. She pressed herself against him, using his strong form to vault upwards for an overhead strike against her enemy. _

They fought like gundarks, like devils, like dancers. She pushed against him as she twirled, her body soft against his own. He staggered back into her as he fought, she caught him and held him for a moment until he was steady once more. And then, finally, their enemies were dead and they were staring at one another.

Kylo panted. Rey’s head was beaded with sweat.

“You can’t keep me out,” he said.

Rey said nothing. She only gazed at him. She was afraid.

“I need to find you,” Kylo whispered.

Rey shook her head, as if she were trying to dislodge him from her thoughts. He felt the bond weaken, felt her push out against him.

“Please,” Kylo said.

Explosions began to echo around her. Rey screwed up her eyes as the forcebond was severed. Kylo was alone once more.


	2. Chapter 2

IV. MUSTAFAR

The fortress of Darth Vader rose like a pinnacle of black glass. Kylo walked across bridges of basalt, listening to the eerie silence. The Rebellion had bombed the site from orbit decades before, leaving gaping craters in the once-impregnable structure. In his younger days, he had searched through the wreckage and ruins for...something. He had not known what then.

Now he knew. He’d torn through Snoke’s forbidden databanks until he’d found the secret. Deep beneath Vader’s castle awaited his birthright.

He traced his way across rivers of magma to the endless steps that lead up to the Fortress’s cracked gateway. The air felt heavy, hot. He sweated. He could not get the thoughts of her from his mind. His foe. His nemesis. Rey.

At the first stair, he paused, sensing something. He gripped his lightsaber tight.

“Don’t go in there, kid,” a voice said from behind him.

He did not move to see who had spoken. He did not want to look at his uncle.

The ghost of Luke Skywalker shimmered like a notion in the air.

“Go away, old man.”

“Please, Ben. Don’t go in there. Don’t open it up. You won’t like what you find.” 

Some ghosts of the past were harder to kill. He turned to face his uncle.

“I know what I’ll find. The power to put an end to all this. What you kept from me. My destiny.”

“It’s not your destiny. It doesn’t have to be. You can still turn back.” The ghost held out insubstantial hands, frilled with a gentle blue glow. Kylo stared at them.

“It’s too late.”

“It’s never too late. Your mother wants me to tell you she loves you, Ben.”

Kylo gripped his lightsaber. The scar on his face ached. The heat was prickling his eyes.

“My mother is dead. And so is Ben Solo.” He looked away, back towards Vader’s fortress. He didn’t want to meet the ghost’s eyes.

“I thought that too,” Luke said. “I thought Ben Solo died that night the academy burned. I thought there could only be Kylo Ren left. But was I wrong?”

Kylo remembered the sound of a lightsaber igniting over him. The hateful faces of his schoolmates. The smell of the academy ablaze. 

“It was the Knights of Ren who destroyed the school, not you. You had nobody to run too but Snoke. Nobody left to be but Kylo Ren.”

Kylo spun, igniting the lightsaber in his hand, swinging its flaming blade through Luke Skywalker. The ghost parted like mist, just like the last time he had faced his uncle. He pointed the blood red weapon at Skywalker’s face.

“And then I killed Snoke,” he said. “Just like I killed Han Solo. And I’d have killed you too, if you hadn’t beaten me to it. Ben Solo is dead.”

“Your mother didn’t think so. And neither did Rey.”

Kylo stiffened.

“You turned her against me,” he whispered.

“No, kid. You did that all yourself.” Luke shook his head, his eyes filled with sorrow. “Look at yourself. You hate this.”

Kylo remembered her eyes in the throne room, as he held out his hand to her. He remembered the look on her face. She thought he was a monster.

If that is what she thought, he would prove her right. He turned his back on his former master.

“Don’t open it, Ben!” Luke said. Kylo thought he almost sounded afraid. “Don’t...don’t let that thing out.”

“I’ve had things whispering in my head my whole life,” Kylo said. “Telling me what to do. First Snoke. Now you. I’m done listening to ghosts.” 

He began the long climb to the gate. The ghost watched him ascend, before dissolving into the air like mist beneath a burning sun.

V. HYPERSPACE

“You stole  _ Poe’s  _ X-wing?!” Finn’s voice crackled across the radio.

“I  _ scavenged  _ it!” Rey protested. “He wasn’t using it!”

“And what about BB-8?”

“Also scavenged!”

The little round astromech droid trilled at her.

“It is  _ too  _ what scavenging is!” Rey shot back.

She gazed through the scuffed glass of the X-wing as the stars sped by outside. She was trying not to think about what had happened on Hays Major, in the mine. Trying not to think about Kylo Ren and how good it felt to fight back to back with him again.

She had felt his emotions. Still tormented, still desperate, still afraid and hating himself. Lost, scared, and angry.

She reminded herself what Leia had said to her.  _ “No one can save Ben but himself. And I don’t know if that is what he wants.” _

_ You can’t save him,  _ she told herself.  _ But he reaches you through your anger. Your anger is the path to the dark side. Bury it. Control it. _

The radio buzzed. “Rey, are you okay?” Finn said. “Ever since Leia died...no, ever since Krait. Something’s been wrong with you.”

“I’m fine, Finn,” Rey said. “Nothing’s wrong with me.” She fiddled with the buttons on the communication terminal. “You’re breaking up. Must be hyperspace interference.” She flicked the switch, cutting off communique from the Falcon’s cockpit.

BB-8 whistled at her.

“Don’t you start,” Rey said. “I expect Poe is going to lecture me enough when we get back to base.”

The droid gave a wee-woo.

“Yeah, I know he misses Leia. We all do.”

The stars whirled past. They still made Rey smile. They were warm in the dark. Each star cradling a thousand planets. Each planet cradling millions, billions of souls. All connected to one another in the Force. 

For the first time in a long time, she thought about Han Solo’s offer. First mate for a cargo trader. Just exploring the galaxy and seeing every star. No Resistance, no First Order, no Jedi, no war.

A light blinked on the X-wing’s dash. Someone from the Falcon was trying to call her. She flicked the radio back on.

“Hey Rey,” Rose said. “Finn says you’re having some radio interference. Wondering if I could give any advice on fixing things?”

“Oh, um, hi Rose. No, I think everything’s fine now.”

“Okay, that’s good to hear. Hey, er, thanks for saving us back there. And what you did for my leg.”

“No problem.”

“Okay.” The Resistance engineer gave a long pause. “Um, I don’t mean to pry, but, is everything okay with your lightsabers?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just they looked kind of...fizzy. And red. I suppose I’d always heard that lightsabers were more...elegant. Not that yours aren’t elegant!”

Rey smiled. “Thanks Rose. Yeah, I don’t know what’s wrong. Well, I do. It’s a problem with the crystal. It’s broken -- broken in two. And I don’t know how to heal it. Leia said that I should be able too, that it was possible to use the Force to purify and mend anything torn apart. Crystals. People. She said they can all be healed. But, well, look at your leg. I’m not very good at it.”

“Okay. Jedi thing. Got it. Hope I wasn’t prying. I just wanted to ask, because I’m good at fixing broken things. I might have been able to help.”

Rey remembered a pair of deep, dark eyes staring at her. An outstretched hand. The word “please”. And then...rage.

“Yeah,” she said, “I thought I was good at fixing broken things too.”

VI. MUSTAFAR, THE FORTRESS OF VADER

The Fortress of Vader was a tomb. Kylo stalked through ruined sanctums lit only by the vermillion glow of his lightsaber. When wreckage blocked his path, he cast it aside with a ripple of rage.

The place was a mess of torn iron, broken devices, and the ever-present hiss of lava and fumes. He pressed deeper. Something was moving: half-broken droids that dragged themselves from the guts of the place to see who had disturbed their deathly rest. Kylo ignored them. He was here for one thing only.

He could feel it. The dark side. Like a sensual, painful presence all around him. Leading him deeper and deeper. It frightened him. He hated himself for that. The Supreme Leader of the First Order should not be afraid.

The broken door ripped and cracked under his onslaught of the Force. Kylo cast the metal to the ground, peering into this new antechamber. The feel of the dark side was almost overwhelming here.

A broken bacta tank stood in the centre of the room, the life-giving fluid long since drained and dried away. Kylo explored, half curious. Tables of surgical instruments. Machines of needles and vials he did not understand, did not want to understand. Dark Sith science.

He found a keypad. When it did not respond to his touch, he thrust his lightsaber into it. It sparked, exploded, and flamed. 

A hatch opened on the floor with a hiss. A spiral staircase descended into blackness below.

Kylo’s face was a mask. His hand trembled. For a moment, he paused on the edge of the darkness, listening to the beat of his aching heart.

“No turning back,” he said to himself. “You can’t go back.”

Darkness below.

“It’s your birthright,” he said to the empty air. “You want this.” 

He did not sound convinced.

“They’ve been holding you back,” he said to himself. “All of them. You don’t need them. You never did.”

Whatever ghosts still haunted the fortress were silent.

What awaited him would purge the last weaknesses of his soul. He was sure of it. It had too.

He went down.

The chamber had survived the ravages of time and Rebellion bombing runs. There still seemed to be power here somehow, for when Kylo stepped off the bottom stair blue light strips flickered into life. He was standing a spartan set of quarters, without a bed or chair. A deactivated combat droid hung in one corner. There were no decorations, hangings, or pictures aside from a single holo-plinth in the centre of the room.

Curious, Kylo crossed to the plinth. He pressed a button, and a blue hologram shivered into life. 

It was a woman, wearing a flowing, ornate dress. Her hair was immaculately braided beneath a veil-hood. She looked beautiful, and kind, but sad. Almost like his mother in her younger years.

Kylo watched the holo, entranced. He waited for a message or a mantra, but the vision never spoke. After a few moments, it flickered out.

He left the plinth, pressing into the inner chanties and halls. Down, down, always down, until he was sure he must be deep beneath the Fortress.

At last, he found it, just like it had been described in Snoke’s files.

The door was made of a sleek, black stone he could not identify. It was covered with runes and sigils of the Sith. Almost experimentally, he activated his lightsaber and swung out at it. It sparked, but seemed to take no damage from the blow.

He sheathed the saber and reached out with the Force. He let his feelings flow through him. Anger. Despair. Betrayal.

There was a click, and then a deep grinding sound.

_ Welcome, Lord of Darkness, _ came a whisper that might have been his own imagination.  _ Welcome, worthy heir of Vader.  _ Words he thought he had longed to hear.

The grinding and rumbling echoed through a vast cavern. The door opened for Kylo, revealing a gulf of black beyond. Again, he hesitated.

_ You’re disgusting, _ he told himself.  _ You shouldn’t fear this. You shouldn’t flinch. This is the potential of your bloodline. You can’t turn away. _

He forced himself beyond the threshold, into the swallowing void beyond. He was cold. He refused to shiver.

Voices whispered around him in the dark. Screams and memories and half-heard words of the dead.

_I.. will become a Jedi and I will come back and free you,_ echoed a child.

_ My love will be with you. Now be brave, and don't look back... don't look back.  _ A woman sounded, very faint.

_ I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy.  _ A voice filled with anger and pain.

And there, in the gloom, it glowed.

The tetrahedron rotated slowly as it hung in the air. Kylo looked around, but there was no guard, no sentinel to keep watch over the Holocron of Vader.

Snoke’s archives had called it a repository of all Sith knowledge. The secret legacy of Anakin Skywalker.

_ Take it, _ he told himself.  _ Take it, you pathetic coward. _

He reached out, willing his fingers not to shake. The Holocron pulsed with crimson light, like a malevolent eye gazing up at him. He paused, expecting a trap, but nothing came.

He grasped it. It was warm in his hand. He lifted it up to his face, studying its pyramid shape, looking for some device or mechanism that would open it up to reveal the secrets within.

A rasping, whirring breath broke the silence. And then another, and another. Deep, laboured breathing in the dark. Kylo spun, his lightsaber bursting into life.

A red lightsaber ignited in response. It shone upon a cloaked silhouette and glistened in the cold glass eyes of a helmet. Clad in black and foul machines, the huge figure of Darth Vader strode from the dark towards Kylo.

“Grandfather?” Kylo whispered, his lightsaber trembling. The phantom menace continued his advance, silent but for his agonised breaths.

“Grandfather, I…” Kylo’s heart was pounding. He could not believe what he was seeing.

Vader said nothing. He only attacked. 


	3. Chapter 3

VII. MUSTAFAR, THE HEART OF DARKNESS

Kylo’s bones vibrated as he parried Vader’s blow. He was forced down onto one knee, struggling to fight back as the Dark Lord of the Sith slowly pushed his lightsaber closer and closer to his face. Kylo’s eyelashes threatened to smoulder in the heat.

He gave a roar and shoved with all his might. Vader barely stumbled, but it gave Kylo the split second’s reprieve he needed to scuttle out of the death lock. He immediately went on the offensive, striking out with blow after blow. Vader parried his assault with vicious ease.

Kylo hurled a wall of force energy against Vader, hoping to knock the beast off its feet. The dark lord didn’t even flinch, as if the Force had no effect on him whatsoever. He swept forwards and once again, Kylo was back on the defensive, losing ground against double-handed hammer blows.

_ You’re losing, _ he told himself.  _ You’re weak. You’re no Vader. You’re worthless. I hate you. _

_ I hate you. _

_ I hate you. _

Kylo felt the ball of loathing in his heart. He saw his own face reflected back at him in the glassy eyes of Vader’s helm; a face full of fear.

He roared and slammed his lightsaber towards that hated face. Vader tried to parry, but Kylo curved his thrust and scored a blow along the side of Vader’s helm. The smell of scorched plastic filled his nostrils. He twisted his sabre, wrenching at his grandfather’s weapon downwards with his burning crossguard. 

Vader’s sabre brushed against Kylo’s shoulder, a stroke of excruciating pain. He pulled the agony into him. He deserved it. He  _ wanted  _ it. Ben Solo should suffer.

Without a scream, without a roar, he endured the sizzle of his own flesh. Vader was silent. Nothing showed through the gouge in his helmet.

Kylo kicked out, sweeping away and whirling around. Vader stumbled and in that moment of weakness, Kylo lashed out. His lightsaber flashed and Vader’s head went sailing through the air. The body collapsed to the ground.

Kylo stood above the black heap, watching as it dissolved into mists of darkness.

“Good,” came a voice from behind him, booming and mechanical.

He spun. The figure of Vader stood above the holocron that had tumbled from his fingers to the ground. Kylo raised his lightsaber for another bout, but Vader raised his hand to stay him.

“The dark side is strong in you, young Skywalker,” Vader spoke.

“I’m no Skywalker,” Kylo spat.

“Maybe not in name. But in blood. And in potential. The legacy of Vader burns like a fire within you. You will use it to ignite the galaxy, to ignite the stars.”

Kylo Ren’s heart was a void, and what Vader was telling him was the thing had always believed would fill it. What Snoke had promised him, what he had promised himself when he had seized the First Order’s leadership. Power. Control. Purpose.

But that black pit in his heart still remained.

“Grandfather…” he began.

“We are not your grandfather,” Vader said. “But we see your mind. We know what you long for. We will give you your destiny.”

“Then what are you?” Kylo spat. 

“We…”

The image of Vader roiled like black smoke, coiling in on itself. It formed and burst apart again and again into dozens of different shapes, faces, and forms.

_ A pale skinned, bald human, with yellow eyes glimmering from beneath dark face tattoos. _

_ A hooded ikotchi woman, smiling a killer smile. _

_ A three-eyed mutant. _

_ A bith dressed in mechanised power armour. _

_ A long-faced mun. _

_ A zabrak male, his skin completely covered in crimson and black.  _

They flickered and shifted, one after another, merging, roiling, shifting: a hundred generations of murderous knowledge and an endless hunger for power.

“We are the Sith.”

The Presence congealed into a familiar form: a pair of rheumy, yellow eyes, sallow-skin hanging from feeble bones, cloaked in black robes. Even Kylo knew the face of the former Galactic Emperor.

“We are proud of you, my boy,” the Palpatine shade said in his sickly voice.

_ Words he had wanted to hear his whole life, from the bloodless lips of a Sith Lord. _

“We see what you are, and we will give you what you deserve. The gift your grandfather left for you.”

“Show me,” Kylo said. 

The holocron rose from the floor to hover before the Presence. It hissed as it unlocked, shining with ruby red light. Kylo crossed to it, reaching out delicately.

“Take it,” Palpatine spat, “Take it, scion of Vader, and fulfil your destiny.”

The holocron glowed with promise. This time, Kylo seized the legacy of Vader without hesitating.

VIII. AJAN KLOSS, RESISTANCE BASE, SPIRIT OF REBELLION

General Poe Dameron has been having a bad day before his best warrior stole his X-Wing. Trying to keep from exploding in an un-general-like manner, he had gone looking for his astromech droid, only to find that that had been stolen too.

“She’s turning from an asset to a liability!” he told Chewbacca. The giant wookie musically roared back at him.

“Yeah, well, maybe having a Jedi isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Leia was never like this. Rey’s acting more like…”

The wookie interjected with a lilting howl.

“Me? I was never this bad!”

The wookie snarled again, and this time Poe scowled. “Yeah, well, I don’t care what Leia told you, I…”

“General Dameron?” an aide interjected. Poe looked up.

“Yeah, what is it Connix?”

“The Millenium Falcon is back, sir. And your X-Wing.”

Poe stormed through the steaming jungle to the landing zone. The Resistance base existed out of crates and boxes, all quick to pack up if they needed a rapid getaway. Strange animals called in the distance, and the undergrowth crunched beneath his booted feet.

He arrived just as the Falcon’s landing ramp lowered to the ground. Poe was nervous. Was Finn okay? What about Rose? The mission he’d sent them on was risky. He’d judged it necessary, the blow of taking out the First Order’s mining operations would be huge. But what if they’d gotten hurt?

He relaxed. Finn and Rose stood at the top of the landing ramp. Rose was leaning on Finn, she looked injured, but nothing too bad. They were safe and well.

Poe blinked, wondering if he’d accidentally eaten some hallucinogenic jungle toad as a cluster of small, ragged children appeared from behind Finn and Rose. They tottered and scuttled down to the base, looking around with wide eyes, whispering to one another at the sights of greenery, of the sky.

“Why...why are there children here?” Poe asked.

“We bought them,” Rose said. “They were mine workers. Now they’re free.”

“Okay, sure, but why are they  _ here? In my base?” _

“Where else were we going to take them?” Rose said, frowning.

“WE ARE AN ARMED INSURGENCY, NOT A KINDERGARTEN.”

“I thought we were freedom fighters,” Rose said. “We fought for their freedom. Now they’re free.”

Poe rubbed at his face. Sweat prickled on the back of his neck. He had too much to deal with.

“Fine, fine, fine, I guess we can…” He looked down as BB-8 bumped against his legs, wittering excitedly.

“Hey buddy! Yeah, I know you were stolen! No, getting stolen isn’t supposed to be fun! Where is she?”

He spotted Rey slinking past, dodging behind technicians to try to avoid being seen.

“You!” he said. Rey stopped.

“Your ship’s fine,” she said. “I bet you didn’t even notice it was gone.”

“It’s not about the ship, Rey. It’s about following orders! I told you to stay put, and you didn’t listen to me. I need to keep you…”

“Yeah, I know, I know. You need me kept in reserve. I’m too  _ valuable _ to waste getting blasted on some random mission. So I’m sitting around the base, reading ancient texts, slowly going mad.”

“Did you just roll your eyes at me? I know you don’t want to be here, Rey. But you’re the only one we have who stands a hope in hell of beating Kylo Ren. And you haven’t finished your training.”

“And now I never will,” Rey said. “Leia’s dead, remember.”

Poe’s stomach lurched. Even weeks later, it was still a gut punch to hear. The General was gone and it was up to him to hold her Resistance together. He tried a different tactic.

“You will,” he said to Rey gently. “You’ve got those books…”

“...which I can’t read.”

“And you’ve got us. Your friends.”

Rey stared at Rose, Finn, and Poe. Their faces were filled with concern, filled with care, and filled with confusion.

“We all know what you’re going through, Rey,” Finn said.

None of them understood her. She wasn’t even sure she understood herself.

“I’m sorry Poe. I just…” She didn’t know what to say. They were all so  _ expectant. _ The Resistance needed a hero. And ever since she’d done the impossible and lifted a tonnage of rocks with nothing but the strength of her feelings, they’d all expected it to be her.

What would they say if they knew she still kept experiencing flashes of connection with the very man they were fighting? What would they do if they knew how  _ close _ she felt to a monster?

“I just need some time,” she said. Her friends nodded sagely as if they understood. 

Rey forced a smile, before spinning on her heels. She marched through the base, very aware of the looks she generated and the whispers that followed her.  _ The Last Jedi. The apprentice of Luke Skywalker. The protege of Leia Organa. Their legacy. _

She left the bustle of the base, out into the overgrowth of the jungle. Strange creatures hooted and chattered in the canopy overhead. She followed the dirt path that wound its way up a small hill, breaking out into a clearing at the summit.

A small cairn of stones stood atop the hill. A simple tomb for the Princess of Alderaan, and a final place to rest for a woman who had spent her life drifting amongst the stars.

Rey slumped down and leaned her back against the tomb. She pulled out her lightsabers, holding one in each hand. She gazed at the for a while.

“I’m sorry, Leia,” she said. “I feel like I’ve failed you.”

The stones were peaceful.

“I couldn’t fix the crystal. I’ve tried everything, but I’m not a healer.”

The stones were quiet.

“And Ben…”

It felt strange to say his name, after so long.  _ Kylo. The Supreme Leader. _ That’s how she’d spoken of him. Not “Ben”.

“I can’t keep him out, either. Whenever I reach out in the Force...I find him.”

The stones were still.

“He’s growing more powerful. I can feel it. He wants power, he wants control, he feels so...lost. And despite all that, every time we link, it just feels like our bond is growing stronger. And I don’t know why.”

“Why do you think?” the stones said. Rey leapt to her feet, scrabbling for her lightsabres, before she saw who had spoken. How had she missed Maz Kanata, leaning against the other side of the tomb.

“Maz!” she said, “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you. Visiting an old friend.” The wizened little alien smiled, patting the rocks of the tomb. She waved at Rey’s hand, still holding an unignited sabre. “Put that away girl, before you hurt yourself.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Rey said, squirming with embarrassment. “When did you arrive?”

“A few hours ago. Just finished up helping out with a little worker's restitution against the Corporate Alliance. Now, tell me about this  _ bond _ with Kylo Ren.”

“It’s nothing.”

“It didn’t sound like nothing.” Maz sat down on the grass and patted the spot next to her for Rey to sit too. “You won’t get anywhere by bottling up your feelings, girl.”

“Serenity is the way of a Jedi,” Rey said, quoting a koan she had had Threepio translate from the sacred texts. Maz laughed.

“I’ve lived well over a thousand years, sweetie. Met plenty of Jedi in my time. And let me tell you, enough of them? They weren’t great at ‘ _ serenity’. _ ”

Maz took Rey’s hand in her leathery little paw.

“Serenity isn’t about never feeling your emotions. It is about balance. Now tell me. What do you feel, when you reach towards that boy?”

“Anger,” Rey said. She thought about battling the First Order troopers. Slave-takers. Monsters. “Hatred. Suffering. The kind of thing that only leads to the dark side.”

“Is that  _ all _ ?” Maz said, smiling knowingly. “Be honest, sweetie.”

Rey thought of Kylo. What they shared.

“Loneliness,” she said. “I reach for him when I am lonely and then I am...not alone.”

“And what else?” Maz said.

“Passion. Strength. He makes me feel  _ strong. _ ”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“And...compassion. I feel his hurt, and I want to help him. And I think he feels mine too.”

“That doesn’t sound like the dark side. That sounds like love.”

“WHAT.”

“I said it sounds like love.”

“THAT IS EVEN WORSE.” Rey scrambled to her feet, clawing at her face. “It can’t be  _ love. _ The texts are very clear. Jedi are forbidden to marry, forbidden to love. It distracts from devotion to the code.”

“Yes, well, maybe if they’d relaxed that rule a bit they wouldn’t have all been so tightly wound…” Maz muttered.

“It can’t be love,” Rey insisted. “Jedi will not love another.”

“And  _ why _ ,” Maz said, “Are you quite so het up about preserving the legacy of a bunch of old men in bathrobes?” 

Rey looked down. Maz was reaching out to a bud in the grass. She spread her dactyls, concentrating for a moment, and the bud opened into a flower. 

“There are more paths to the Force than the Jedi code,” Maz said.

Rey blinked at the blossoming flower. It was beautiful.

“It can’t be love,” she muttered.

“Whatever you say, sweetie,” Maz said with a smile. “Ignore this old meddler if you want.”

“Besides,” Rey said, looking at Leia’s lonely cairn, “What did love ever do for the Skywalkers? Leia’s father became Darth Vader over love. And two parents giving all the love in the world wasn’t enough to save Ben from himself.”

She looked out from the hill, down over the Resistance camp below. She thought she could see Finn in the crowd, was that Poe being mobbed by small children?

“Love doesn’t win wars,” she said.


End file.
